


leave tonight or live and die this way

by soggywormcircus



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, also watch me completely ignore the fact that charlotte was part of the cult in bf, depending what your theory on the end is, this is super vague towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23014138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soggywormcircus/pseuds/soggywormcircus
Summary: The world is going to end, and Charlotte only thinks of one thing.
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 36





	leave tonight or live and die this way

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at some point in December but didn't want to upload until the actual black friday release, so here we are! If you don't think Charlotte and Ted holding hands at the end of what if tomorrow comes made me lose my shit, you're super wrong. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Charlotte has been restless all day, pacing around her living room, up and down, wringing her hands for no reason. One might think it was because Sam wasn't home, that he had left in the morning without a word about where he was going and when he'd be back. 

But that was far from the first time that had happened, and when Charlotte realised in the morning, she had simply made a coffee and drank it in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, eyes closed. 

Now, she's sitting on the couch. She's trying to distract herself, knitting a scarf. The TV is on, and the yarn is blue. 

She's barely listening to the TV, until she is. She looks up from her knitting. 

'We do not yet have further information about why the strike occurred or where it came from, but experts believe-' 

Charlotte gets up from the couch, walks towards the TV. Her mind is racing so fast she's almost dizzy.

'We advise citizens to stay inside until we-' a static hiss makes Charlotte flinch, and then the screen is black. Silence. 

Charlotte drops the yarn. 

She's put on her shoes before she can think straight, and when she shrugs into her coat, her phone is propped between her ear and shoulder, dialing. Before she can be sure what exactly she's doing, he picks up. 

'Charlotte?' 

He doesn't sound right at all. That easy, cocky laziness is missing, and he sounds- 

Charlotte can barely put her finger on it. He almost sounds worried. Maybe even scared.

Still, when she hears his voice, she first thing she feels is relief. He's right there, and he's-

'Ted,' she breathes, 'where are you?' 

Her hand is already fumbling with her keys. 

'I'm in the car. I'm coming to get you.' 

Charlotte's heart speeds up in a way it hasn't in a long time, and it has nothing to do with the upcoming end of the world. Her hands are shaking. She can barely get the key in the lock. 

She notices that Ted sounds defensive. With a jolt, Charlotte realises that he expects her to tell him no, tell him to stay away. At the same time, she realises that that would have made sense. And that she didn't consider it for even a single second.

She takes a shuddering breath. 'Okay'. 

When they've hung up, Charlotte locks the front door behind her. She can't imagine that it makes a big difference, but old habits die hard. 

She starts walking then, away from her home. It's cold out, Charlotte's hands are in the pocket of her coat, her breath turns into mist before her and she's not thinking about anything. She takes one step, and then another. 

It's quiet here. There's no one outside, not a single soul, all the other houses are nothing but closed blinds and silence.

Silence that is broken by the sound of screeching brakes as a car pulls into Charlotte's street. Charlotte freezes where she stands, suddenly terrified by the thought that maybe it's Sam, that maybe he heard the news and decided to come home. 

But she recognises the car coming towards her, from late evening rides home from work when it had gotten too late for her to take the bus, or late night rides home from somewhere else. 

Ted's car comes to an abrupt stop when he sees her. He looks like he ran here instead of taking the car. There's a haunted expression on his face. For a second, he just sits behind the steering wheel, and stares at Charlotte. Charlotte has her arms wrapped around herself to keep out the cold, and stares back. 

She sees Ted breathe in once, like he needs to muster strength. Then, slowly in a way that's not like him at all, he gets out of the car. 

Charlotte wants to say something, anything. It doesn't even have to be something heavy, that she's been wanting to say for months but never had the courage to. Something small would already be enough. A hello or maybe just his name would be enough. 

But like usually, Charlotte finds she can't find find the small words, and can't bring herself to say the big ones. 

She doesn't have to, anyway. Ted steps out of the car and words aren't necessary. Charlotte has one look at his face and she falls into his arms. Ted holds her tightly, with an urgency he's never had before. Charlotte presses her face into his chest; she can hear his heartbeat. Ted lips brush over Charlotte's hair. 

Charlotte and Ted are not in a relationship. They both have made that fact clear multiple times the last few months, wether Charlotte hisses it at Ted with downcast eyes in the office or Ted states it early in the mornings with a neutrality that always sounds a little too spiteful, a little to forced. 

They are not in a relationship, but still they have gotten to know each other more and more since their affair had begun. It wasn't just in all the physical ways; unintentionally, there had been more. Car rides after work to Ted's apartment or those times after the nights where one of them had fallen asleep instead of making their way home before sunrise when they spend mornings together that are quiet, and peaceful, and not even a little bit careful. 

(These occasions were difficult to avoid. Or at least that's what Charlotte would tell herself.)

So they know each other well, in that effortless way. Charlotte knows exactly which buttons to push to give Ted that rare expression of hurt. Ted knows exactly how to lay all of Charlotte's weaknesses and vices bare. 

Still this, this is something they've never done before. It's silly, Charlotte tells herself, to have spent so much time together so intimately, and to still feel flustered at a simple hug. Her heart is still fluttering at Ted's tightening of his grip around her when she fists her hands in his shirt. 

She breathes it all in, and then the spell is broken. 

Charlotte backs away, her hands grasping Ted's arms. She frowns. 

'Where's your jacket?'. Ted's lip twitch for a second, then he shrugs. 'When the news went out, I was already halfway down the stairs. No time to really get dressed.' 

'Aren't you cold?' 

They're so close that Ted has to tilt his neck downward to look at her. 'Don't worry about that.' He shoves his hands into his pockets and grins in that way Charlotte knows so well. 'When I die tonight, it's probably not going to be of hyperthermia. And if it does get really bad, you can keep me warm, eh?' He nudges Charlotte's side with his elbow. She pushes his arm away, but she's smiling. 

They end up sitting down on the hood of Ted's car and staring at the sky. 

It's a beautiful night. There's not a single cloud in sight, instead thousands of stars. The moon is full. 

It's a strange thought, that the world could end on a night as nice as this. 

Charlotte is very careful when she scoots a little closer to Ted, and almost flinches in surprise when Ted pulls her to his chest and takes her hand into his. 

'Ted?,' Charlotte says softly and looks up. Her lips are less than an inch away from his jaw. Ted's eyes are still fixed on the stars. 'Sorry,' he says, a word that Charlotte doesn't think she's ever heard him say sincerely, 'I don't- I just- I'll stop'. 

'No,' Charlotte hears herself say before she even registers Ted's words. 'No, don't- don't apologise. I don't- I don't mind.' She curses herself internally for wording it this way and takes the hand Ted has moved away like he's been waiting for a cue to do so back into hers. She squeezes it gently, hoping the gesture makes more sense than what she just said. 

Ted sighs then, heavily. He buries his face in Charlotte's neck similar to the way she did earlier. Ted's breathing is too steady, too controlled. Charlotte doesn't know what to do, so she squeezes his hand a second time. He starts drawing circles in the back of her hand with his thumb in response. 

'Do you really think it's true?' Charlotte can't help but to ask. The night is so peaceful that what she's seen on the news, the thought that somewhere else this same sky might be on fire, almost seems like a distant dream. The only reason she knows it's not is because she's sitting here right now, with Ted. This isn't something that would just happen by itself. 'Do you think we're-', she bites her lip, and falls silent.

'I don't know,' Ted says. He has shifted, his head now resting on Charlotte's shoulder, his other hand tapping out an arbitrary rhythm on her arm. He's restless, but that's nothing new. 'We might.' 

Charlotte takes a deep breath. Somehow, it doesn't feel as heavy as she expected it to be. She has a look around, at the quaint little houses of Hatchetfield, the yards with their flowers. She imagines all of it going up in flames, turning into dust, gone forever. But somehow it's hard to imagine the world ending with Ted's warmth around her. Then again, it's such a strange and unfamiliar feeling. It might as well be the end of the world. 

She lets out a shaky laugh that the silence of the night swallows immediately. 'We should probably get out of here.' 'Yeah,' Ted says softly, 'we should.' 

Neither of them move. 

'Listen, Ted-' Charlotte looks down at their hands, intertwined. So easy, so simple, and yet. 'I need to apologise.' Ted keeps quiet, but somehow it feels like he's holding her a tiny bit tighter than before. It's probably just Charlotte's imagination but it gives her the courage to try and keep going. 

'I wanted to- I should have- I'm sorry that I never-' 

But there's too much to apologise for, too much that Charlotte can't make up to Ted anymore, and so she falls silent. She feels tears rising up inside her. She's always tried to make sure Ted would never see her cry. Maybe that's another rule she's going to break tonight. 

'I know,' Ted says. His voice is muffled by the fabric of Charlotte's sweater and for a second, Charlotte doesn't understand what he means. When she does, her heart starts fluttering again for no reason. She holds her breath. 'Me too.' 

Charlotte turns her head so that they are practically nose to nose. She raises her hand to Ted's face and trails her fingers along his jawline. Ted is staring at her lips. Charlotte smiles. And then suddenly it's very easy. At least for a moment.

They used to try to avoid kissing when they first started their affair. It was too sweet, too soft and too intimate. When they slowly started forgetting that rule, they would kiss anywhere - wrists and necks and jaws and collarbones - anywhere but the mouth. 

Charlotte remembers the first time she kissed Ted on the lips. She had been frantic that day, eager to forget that world around her, and wanted more, more. When she kissed Ted he picked her up to carry her into his bedroom, and swallowed any sound she would have made. 

This kiss is much different. Charlotte has Ted's face in her hands and pulls him close, but carefully, to give him the opportunity to back out, drive home, close the blinds, and presumably never see the light of day again. 

But Ted doesn't. He puts his hands on Charlotte's hips, and kisses her instead. 

She hasn't been kissed like that in a long time, maybe never. It feels nice. It's something Charlotte finds she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life doing; being kissed by Ted. 

His lips are cold but they are also achingly familiar. Charlotte can feel the tears she's been holding back start to spill, feeling hot on her face. 

Ted pulls back almost immediately. 'Are you okay?' He takes her face in his hand and wipes away her tears with his thumb. 

Charlotte opens her mouth to tell him yes, of course - and bursts into sobs instead. 

'Fuck,' Ted mutters under his breath. 'Fuck Charlotte, are you okay? I'm sorry, should I not have done that?' 

Charlotte lets out a noise that's half sob, half laugh, and she shakes her head. Part of her wants to comfort him and wipe that rare worried expression off his face but even she realises that that would be ridiculous. She tries to contain her tears or even out her breathing at least but there's no stopping it. 

She barely notices Ted sliding off the hood of the car until he pulls Charlotte to her feet. He pulls her into another hug. He runs his fingers through her hair and Charlotte keeps crying until she doesn't have anything left inside her. 

'It's okay,' Ted says when her breathing has evened out. Charlotte believes him. 

She pulls out of the hug and looks at Ted. She thinks of what an easy decision it has been to call him, let him come to her, to kiss him. She thinks that maybe, if they were more honest, a little braver, they could have had this much earlier. They could have been happy. 

Charlotte stands up on her tiptoes and presses a second kiss on Ted's lips, much shorter this time. 

'Let's get out of here,' she says. Ted nods. 'Where do you want to go?' 

Charlotte has another look around, breathes in the cold air of Hatchetfield. 'I don't care,' she decides, 'just away from here.' 

Ted takes Charlotte's hand and pulls her back to the car. 

Ted is driving slowly which is unusual for him. Charlotte knows that driving is relaxing to him, the more outrageous and dangerous, the better. This is very different, but it doesn't worry Charlotte. It's not like they're in a rush to get anywhere. And even if they were, they'd already be so late that it didn't make a difference anymore. 

'I just hope they haven't raised the fucking bridge again,' Ted mutters, more to himself than to Charlotte. 

Charlotte's eyes are glued to the car window. She knows these buildings so well. She's lived in this part of the town the last eight years. And still, she doesn't have a feeling of being home until Ted takes some left turns and they end up around the part of the town where Ted has his apartment. For the first time since she called Ted, a bittersweet feeling rises inside her at the thought of leaving and never coming back. 

But Ted is right here with her. And, well. They're probably not going to make it out anyway. 

'Charlotte, are you seeing this?' Ted points to the square at the end of the road. 'Is that-' 

'Fire,' Charlotte breathes, eyes wide. She puts a hand on Ted's arm. 'Ted, what's happening over there?' 

The world is ending. They're together, and they're turning their backs on this town. They shouldn't get deeper into whatever is happening here and they both know it. Charlotte's hand slips into his and he pulls into the square. 

'Oh, god,' Charlotte says softly in the same second as Ted utters a 'Jesus fuck.' 

It's Lakeside Mall, burning to the ground. There's people everywhere, looking like they're sleepwalking. There's a sense of fear in the air that makes Charlotte shiver. She wants to tell Ted to turn around, drive away and never come back. 

They get out of the car. Charlotte puts her arm around Ted's waist, and Ted puts his arm around Charlotte's shoulder. 

Ted and Charlotte walk to the mall, and whichever end it has in store for their story, they accept it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
